Joining Twitter: A Model of Social Ineptitude

I have heard a lot from agents, writers, and publishers that Twitter can be extremely helpful for writers to connect with each other and stalk agents (so when I send a query letter, I can find the agent on Twitter and see what they look for.) I also heard that it was fun and could help develop that annoying thing called a writer’s platform.

I suspect that Twitter is fun if you are not stressing about every single word that you post, confused about what you are supposed to do, or realizing that you are about the least social person that you know. Unfortunately, I am doing all three, but I have taken the first step!

I actually made a Twitter account. See, here is real proof:

My username is @Write4theKing (Is it called a username on Twitter? I don’t even know….)

So here are my goals for these next few weeks as I explore this new social media site:

Tweet at least once a day

Stop worrying about how I portray myself

Say a few stupid things, irritate a few people, and DON’T REGRET IT

Track down some agents and begin stalking them

Figure out the layout and where everything is

Find out the best way to format tweets that link to my blog

Find out if it is normal to have full conversations with other people (Do my followers see my replies to others? Because I feel like that would be really annoying to anyone who followed me…)

Start getting used to hashtags

You guys are are welcome to follow me, but you might regret it. So be warned!

So do you guys have any tips for how to use Twitter? What is your favorite social media site to use as a writer?

23 thoughts on “Joining Twitter: A Model of Social Ineptitude”

Awesome!!! I want to get a Twitter account, but I don’t have a smartphone, and my dad says that’s kind of the point of Twitter. 😛 We’ll see. I do think your “username” is called a “handle”; at least, I’ve heard the phrase “Twitter handle” before… XD Definitely checking out your account!

I don’t have a smart phone either. I think a smart phone is only necessary if you plan on tweeting constantly (which I don’t.) But then again: what do I know?
Okay. A “handle.” That doesn’t make any sense to me.

As a writer, I find Instagram helps me best. Though I do have a mostly personal account, if I take a lovely photo or something of that sort, I can write a beautiful caption, publish stories to my feed, (you can stalk agents,) and it’s just an enjoyable site.

Thanks for the tip, Emily.Unfortunately, I don’t have my own camera or a smart phone, so I am not sure if I will be able to try that this summer. I had no idea that you could stalk agents through Instagram either!

#2 and #3 are the way to go! I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to use Twitter (except book link spamming). The best advice I can give is to have fun and interact with people, because Twitter is just as full of awesome individuals as it is with annoying ne’er-do-wells. Cheers!

Yeah, Twitter definitely was not going to the postmodern feeling– more of a comfortable, constantly stimulated coffee shop feeling. The constant feed of information is a bit overwhelming for me still.
I was wondering why you had not posted lately. Well, good luck switching hosts.

Yeah, for some reason it was (from what I understood) trying to say it had a security certificate it didn’t, so it was unreachable. It actually had nothing to do with trying to switch hosts, but it happened at the same time, which led me to think it was connected originally.

Huh. I just check out your website, and I realized that I haven’t been getting any notifications when you post (I have been following your blog since the start, and I used to get e-mails when you posted.)

I’ve just been on Twitter for a few months now, and I really enjoy it! In my experience, I’ve found that it is a much more relaxed environment and it lends itself to more interaction between users. I think the best advice I can give would be to not stress too much and just enjoy it. Good luck in the Twittersphere!

To be honest, Twitter terrifies me. And kind of annoys me, although I’ve never really been on it. I guess the concept of it annoys me. But I have heard that it’s really useful for authors/bloggers, so I may have to look into it eventually. Like Emily, I’ve also heard that Instagram is another great way to go. Anyway, I am cheering you on in this exploration! I admire your bravery. ;D If I ever take the plunge, I’ll be sure to follow you, and I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it soon.

I completely understand that! The concept is kind of annoying, and I will full admit that the constant feed slightly overwhelms me. But I can see the benefits now. One of the bloggers I know just spend a day writing 10k words, and he posted his word count on twitter to keep him motivated and to gather encouragement from other writers. So there are pluses, too!

Thanks for the tips! I found an option on WordPress that allows me to prewrite tweets with links to my post, and then it will automatically tweet when my post is published, but I will check out Buffer, too. And shorter links will definitely be helpful. I am a bit resentful of the whole 140 characters thing…